Good news on the wind energy front: new statistics from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) show that previous estimates of U.S. wind power resources actually underestimated the amount of energy available. The new statistics estimate that onshore wind power could generate 37,000,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) each year–nine times the amount of energy required to power the country. NREL also ranked the top 10 states with the highest wind potential as follows:

Top 10 wind potential states

State

MW of wind turbines

GWh each year of wind power

Texas

1,901,530

6,527,850

Kansas

952,371

3,646,590

Montana

944,004

3,228,620

Nebraska

917,999

3,540,370

South Dakota

882,412

3,411,690

North Dakota

770,196

2,983,750

Iowa

570,714

2,026,340

Wyoming

552,073

1,944,340

Oklahoma

516,822

1,788,910

New Mexico

492,083

1,644,970

We still have a long way to go before the U.S. meets its full wind power potential. The country currently has an installed capacity of 35 GW, but its total potential is over 10,000 GW. In other words, it’s time to start building.